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Teaching film in modern language lessons

Film, le septième art, has long held a high
status within French culture. It is worth incorporating in an A-level
course for several reasons. First, it is one way of becoming more
closely acquainted with French-speaking culture. Second, films are an
excellent source of authentic listening material. Thirdly, students who
are going on to study modern languages at university will feel better
prepared for the study of film at that level. Finally, watching a film,
although less intellectually daunting than reading a novel or play, can
be a stimulating challenge.

Which films?

A number of factors should be kept in mind when selecting films or directors to watch.

Is the language of an appropriate level of challenge? Is the soundtrack clearly audible?

Is the content appropriate for the age range of the students?

Is the content of the film stimulating and worth studying?

Are there support materials to help with the study of the film e.g. study notes from books or online?

Is the teacher enthusiastic about the film?

Is the film known to have worked successfully with other teachers and classes?

Does the film allow for enough discussion of characters, themes and techniques?

In
preparation for study the teacher may wish to take detailed notes
including timings, scene changes, soundtrack themes and which characters
are on screen. This will be invaluable for the students later on,
since, unlike with a book, they cannot instantly locate a scene from the
film.
I would advocate watching the film in its entirety with subtitles. At
A-level most students find a film without subtitles too difficult to
follow, therefore enjoyment is lost.
During the second watch in short sections there is a range of activities possible.

Use still images as a basis for oral description and try to predict storyline

Play soundtrack & have a tick list for moods: joyeux/terrifiant/angoissant

True/false comprehension tasks.

Cut off final few frames for prediction.

Re-ordering the plot for jigsaw reading.

Who said what? – match the characters and the quotations. Also, who could have said what?

Open dialogues – imagine the other character (e.g. dialogue on the
telephone) or imagine what the people in the scene are thinking.

Rewrite a scene from the film – how else could it have started or ended?

Perform or write an imaginary interview with the director.

Students do research on the director for a presentation or essay

Watch interviews with the director and actors from Youtube, Dailymotion or the INA archive.

Do listening gap fill tasks on sections of dialogue

Do written gap fills on characters and themes

Write a film review

Find film reviews in French and produce worksheets with matching tasks

Where relevant, students learn about the characteristics of the film school being studied (e.g. new wave)

Students are provided with a cinema vocabulary glossary and
explanation of film terms (e.g. close-up, freeze frame, dissolve, iris,
long shot, zoom, panning, dolly)

Encourage students to buy their own copy and other films by the same director

Preparing for assessment

For
some examination boards at A-level assessment of film is an integral
part of the examination. For AQA, for example, the most popular board
for languages, the oral includes ten minutes devoted to discussion of
two cultural topics, one of which may be the work of a film director.
Questions are of a general nature and focus on the candidate’s personal
reaction to the film, rather than a detailed knowledge of the film’s
content.At the time of writing the AQA A2 examination includes an essay which may be on the work of a
director. Candidates are invited to write at least 250 words on
questions of a general nature to do with characters, themes, film-making
techniques, the director himself or herself and personal reactions.
Subject content cannot be assessed, but marks are awarded for answering
relevantly, coherently, developing content points, showing a good level
of personal evaluation and using complex language accurately.

The WJEC board offers a prescribed list of directors under the rubric
The World of Cinema with a choice of questions of a general nature,
usually relating to characters and general themes.

The Edexcel board allows candidates to prepare a “research-based essay”. Titles in the examination are along the lines Examinez l’importance d’un personnage dans un film que vous avez étudié. There is no oral assessment of the film study.

The OCR examination board does not assess film in its written paper,
but it is possible to present cinema for part of the oral examination.
Teachers who wish to teach films in detail may choose to avoid the OCR.

The SQA (Scottish Higher) examination allows for “extended viewing”
and suggests devoting up to 40 hours on this, with the ultimate aim to
develop language skills generally. Any film studied is not formally
assessed, however.

Students need plenty of practice for their written essays, so the
teacher needs to instruct them on effective essay technique and how to
play to the mark scheme. It is a good idea to do timed essays, either in
class, or at home.

Students are undaunted by watching films and positively enjoy the
process as film is such a commonplace part of their cultural life. The
challenge for the teacher is to get them to watch critically, want to
watch more French films and to enhance their future viewing of all
films.

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I did my first degree in French and Linguistics at Reading University and my MA in second language acquisition at the Institute of Education, London. I taught at Tiffin School, Hampton School, then was Head of Modern Languages at Ripon Grammar School in Yorkshire for 24 years. I now write resources for frenchteacher.net, train PGCE students at Buckingham University, present at occasional events, blog and work for the AQA exam board training and writing teacher support resources.

Publications

The Language Teacher Toolkit (2016), a handbook for teachers, co-authored with Gianfranco Conti